‘I saw the film in Bournemouth,’ said Milly. ‘Mrs Tice took us.’
‘I like Robert Donat,’ Lena sighed. ‘He’s so good-looking.’
After a while, Charles made his apologies and said that he and Milly had to go back home immediately.
‘Nothing wrong, I hope,’ said Big Alice.
‘No, no,’ Charles said as they stood once more. ‘My wife and Pearl have returned from London and Milly has a social engagement this evening. I’m sorry it has to be this way, but I promise we’ll come back another time.’ He kissed Big Alice on both cheeks, shook Rainbow George’s hand then hugged Lena.
‘Why did you say that?’ Milly asked her father as they walked away. ‘I don’t have any social engagements.’
‘I’m afraid you do,’ he said, deliberately not looking at her. ‘Your mother wants you to go to a country house ball tonight.’
Chapter 12
Lena watched her father and half-sister go with a deep sense of longing. From the moment her mother had died, Pa had given her what she had wished for. She’d had an education and then, when she’d left school, he’d allowed her to return to the fairground and its people, but she always felt torn. It was as if she didn’t really belong anywhere. She respected Rainbow George, but being part of his patriarchal family structure was like living in a straitjacket and she wasn’t allowed to step beyond boundaries which had been laid down in the year dot. She couldn’t go out without an escort; she could work on the amusements but not have her own, and she would have to agree to a marriage before she was eighteen. Rainbow George didn’t seem to realise that they lived in the twentieth century now.
When Angel died, Lena discovered she had been given her jewellery and a little money. It wasn’t much, but twenty pounds gave her a small chance for independence. Pa had offered her some advice but, apart from insisting that she put the money into a bank account for safe-keeping, he had left her to choose for herself what she wanted to do with it. She’d kept quiet about it so nobody else knew about her inheritance. Good job too. She would have been coerced into a marriage pretty quickly had would-be suitors realised she had a bit of money. Lena had toyed with various ideas but, in the end, the twenty pounds had remained where it was . . . until last year. Having decided that she wanted something more permanent, something nobody could take from her and something that would give her a decent return, she’d asked Pa to help her buy a piece of land.
‘You want to be a landowner?’ Pa cried.
‘I’ve found a place to the east of Worthing where some nurseries used to be,’ she told him. ‘It’s near the station; well, it’s a little halt really, but it means it has good transport nearby. There’s a bus, some shops, a pub just up the road and, best of all, it’s going quite cheap.’
‘How cheap?’ Pa had asked.
‘The owner wants five pounds an acre.’
Pa had frowned. ‘Oh, Lena,’ he began, ‘at that price, I’m not sure—’
‘I know what you’re going to say Pa,’ Lena interrupted, ‘but it’s all right. I’ve listened to what Rainbow George does when he’s shelling out with big money for something, and I’ve been careful to check up on everything. I’m sure it’s perfectly kosher.’
‘Lena, you’re only fifteen,’ Pa said, shaking his head.
‘Almost sixteen,’ she told him.
‘But you’re an innocent. You don’t know how unscrupulous people can be. At five pounds an acre I find it hard to believe that it’s a good investment. If I was you, I’d be very careful.’
‘I’m not planning to sink all my money into it,’ Lena said stoutly, ‘but ten pounds will buy me two acres. All I want is for you to come with me to the bank. They tell me that even though it’s my own money, I’m not old enough to make such a purchase without my father’s consent.’
Charles Shepherd shook his head in disbelief, but what else could he do? He had never been a heavy-handed father, and wasn’t going to start now. Amazed by her tenacity, and even more astonished by her decision, he agreed to help, providing that she took him to view the land for himself first. To begin with, he had wondered if she’d fallen for some fairy-tale purchase which didn’t really exist, but when they visited the place he found the land was real enough. Back in Victorian times, it had been a nursery growing and selling tomatoes and grapes but, because so many young and fit men had perished during the Great War, the owner had soon gone out of business. He hadn’t been able to find anyone who was interested in glasshouse work, and the bottom had fallen out of the market anyway.
But though real enough, the site was a tip. There was broken glass everywhere, the glasshouses were in need of serious repair, and the ground itself was completely overgrown. It had stayed on the books of the estate agent for a long time.
‘You won’t be able to use this ground for anything,’ Charles said as the water squelched over his shoes. ‘It’s waterlogged. The owner seems desperate to sell even at five pounds an acre, so I can’t help but wonder what else is wrong. It might look like a bargain but I’m afraid he saw you coming.’
‘I know,’ Lena said, ‘but what he doesn’t know is that I have the gift.’
Charles frowned, clearly puzzled. ‘The gift?’
Lena grinned. ‘When Angel was alive, people used to ask her to find water. She used a forked twig and walked up and down a field.’
Her father looked startled. ‘She was a water diviner?’
Lena nodded. ‘I was only a kid, but she taught me what to do and I have the gift as well. I have dowsing skills.’
Charles blinked. ‘You’re incredible,’ he said, ‘his voice choking with emotion.
‘It’s useful when we picks our part of the field for the fairs,’ she grinned. ‘We never gets stuck with the boggy patch.’
Her father grinned proudly. ‘So you can find the source of the water and get it drained? Clever girl.’
‘So will you help me?’
Charles nodded and, by the end of the week, Lena had been the secret but proud owner of two acres of East Worthing scrubland.
Now, as her father and half-sister reached the edge of the fairground, they turned round to wave one more time. Lena smiled. She ought to tell Milly about the field. They shouldn’t have secrets from one another.
‘Come on, girl,’ said Rainbow George, coming up behind her and snapping her out of her daydream with a playful slap on her shoulder. ‘You’m got a hoopla to run.’
Milly came home to find herself in the grip of an absolute nightmare.
Her mother was waiting in the hall, her feet tapping, arms folded, and, as Milly and her father walked through the door, she glanced anxiously at the clock.
‘Where on earth have you been?’ she said angrily.
‘I’m sorry,’ Milly said, ‘but I had no idea that you would be here.’
Her mother hustled Milly towards the stairs, her beautiful silk dress rustling as she moved. ‘I can’t think why you were out today of all days,’ she complained. ‘You never go anywhere.’
